Prostitutes plead for police amnesty after second death

The body of second missing Ipswich prostitute Tania Nicol (left) is believed to have been discovered by police in a pond today. The naked body of her friend Gemma Adams (right) was found last Saturday in a stream

The English Collective of Prostitutes believe other prostitutes have also gone missing from the area over recent years. They fear there will be a repeat of the Yorkshire Ripper horror unless they and their clients are immediately granted an amnesty from arrest.

This is a statement they have just issued and sent to me:

When prostitute women are not safe, no woman is safe

Gemma Adams and a woman the police believe to be Tania Nicol, have now both been found tragically murdered in Ipswich. We pass our deepest condolences to their loved ones. A number of women also working as sex workers have gone missing in the area in recent years. In order to save lives and not to repeat the horror of the Yorkshire Ripper, who was allowed to continue killing until 13 women had been murdered, the Suffolk police must not use the criminality imposed on sex workers by the prostitution laws as an excuse to deny women the protection we are all entitled to by law.

We demand:

an immediate temporary amnesty from arrest for prostitute women and clients so that anyone can come forward to give information to this inquiry without fear of criminalisation or harassment; (Previously, women with outstanding arrest warrants either couldnâ€™t contact the police or when they did were arrested. (See Criminalisation: the price women and children pay, English Collective of Prostitutes response to the governmentâ€™s review of the prostitution laws, December 2004)

an end to street sweeps, arrests and ASBOs against prostitute women and clients which have forced women into darker, more isolated areas making them more vulnerable to rape, violence and even murder. Women working under increased pressure are less able to look out for each other, have less time to check out clients and are forced to take more risks;

a change in police priorities; money and resources being used to prosecute women and clients for consenting sex must be re-directed into vigorously pursuing violent men and protection of all women

following the example of New Zealand, decriminalisation of the prostitution laws, which by criminalising sex workers signal that womenâ€™s lives are not worth much. The police and courts donâ€™t protect women and violent men think they can get away with attacks.

The police are telling women to look out for each other and come forward with information. But whatever safety systems that women have and will work out among themselves, they can never substitute for the police doing the job that the public overwhelmingly wants them to do â€“ protect sex workers from rape and other attacks.

Over 70% of prostitute women are mothers. As poverty, homelessness and debt go up and womenâ€™s wages go down, more women (especially with Xmas round the corner) are forced into prostitution to support themselves and their families. Every woman is some motherâ€™s daughter, someoneâ€™s sister, aunt, beloved friend . . . Every life is of value.

I would like to know how many other women have gone missing too, is it feared they are also dead? Why haven’t we heard about this before?

I don’t see how police can deny this request from the ECP, otherwise they face alienating themselves at a time when they particularly need the trust of those whose lives were closely entwined with the two murdered young women, they will only force them underground. Suffolk police have already upset the local press, I’m wondering if the reporter’s investigation was based around this case.

As the statement says, every woman is someone’s mother, daughter, sister, aunt, beloved and friend. I hope that police and government will one day soon work with these women to legalise brothels rather than waste time and money on prosecuting adults for consensual sex.

[…] I’ve written about this subject before, and raised the question of legalised brothels, and the many comments give a valuable insight into various views on this. We clearly need to tackle the drug issue, the reality is that prostitution will continue and forcing it underground will not help their safety. […]

[…] Sara cites New Zealand as an example of a country that has improved the rights of prostitutes by decriminalizing the practice, she believes managed areas create a “two-tier” system whereby women can work within the zone but are criminalized outside of it. (There was even a bizarre case in July 2006 when a police officer in Auckland was reprimanded for moonlighting as a prostitute without permission, but was allowed to keep her job as she had committed no crime). […]

I do not think licensed brothels will put an end to streetwalkers for a number of reasons. Firstly, many (though not all) streetwalkers have drug problems. The indoor market is intolerant of drug use of any kind. Secondly, the State will not stop brothel keepers and pimps for charging extortionate ‘rent’. Compulsory medical checks are discriminatory, they should be voluntary yet readily accessible. In Holland, where prostitution is legalised, a two tier system of workers has developed, there are women who are not registered and thus illegal. They do not benefit from the perks legalisation brings (but as they are freelancers neither do they lose from the extortionate rent and taxation of the legal brothels). many of these women work on the streets.

My view is that it should simply be decriminalised, the charges of ‘immoral earnings’ dropped as well so that women will be able to work indoors freely without fear of prosecution, and even have men on the premises for security reasons. There is only a case for State interference in the case of public order – hence there is a case for special zones/tolerance zones for street prostitution. Many women who work indoors do pay taxes currently anyway. Decriminalisation will enable women to register as self employed and thus pay tax. Limiting activity to State licensed brothels will stop freelancers from being able to operate.

As far as the drugs issue goes I support legalisation of all drugs – but for the time being I think that giving herin on prescription, along with better mental health services, will help solve the problems faced by many streetwalkers.

I was a police officer for 30 years, many of them spent on the vice squad. I have said for many years that prostitution should be legalised and the girls allowed to work in an environment which is safe for them. This proves it yet again.

When a prostitute is murdered where do people think we go for information? Just as when drug dealers kill each other we wouldn’t get very far if we nicked everyone who came to tell us who it was.

I have never heard of a prostitute who came forwards to give information regarding a murder being ARRESTED for this. Prostitution isn’t even illegal it is soliciting that is – you can’t just arrest someone who comes forward and says they have been paid money for sex.

The amnesty asked for has been implicit in these kinds of investigations for years.

“wayne, please read the link I posted to see why your off the cuff idea of governments being pimps for women is not a good one. It does not work. Police rape prostitutes. UN Peacekeepers rape refugees and give them money or food as if the rape is cleansed by turning it into prostitution.”

If it isn’t a good one it is the best one so far. I am not saying that state run brothels don’t have their flaws but I think it is a much better option than allowing them to be murdered on the streets.

“Men can not be trusted to run brothels, especially men in positions of power like police and politicians”

can pimps be trusted more than the government?

“If you acknowledge that prostitution is always going to be rife with abuse, why do you still defend the legalization?”

because the abuse will reduce if it was legalised and out in the open.

I like the statement that “every woman is someoneâ€™s mother, daughter, sister, aunt, beloved and friend”. yes the person as a human being should be given importance first and their profession comes next.

Gavin is being helpful and bringing us back on track, what about the police amnesty, has it happened before in this country, what difference would it make, how helpful would it be in this murder inquiry. Would more prositutes feel able to give evidence, as well as clients? And, as he asks, why only temporary? These are the questions we need to be addressing.

If you acknowledge that prostitution is always going to be rife with abuse, why do you still defend the legalization? Prosecution of the pimps and johns along with services for prostitutes is the only real answer. Legalization is NOT the answer.

“Men arenâ€™t a â€˜problemâ€™ and I thought the sort of feminist who thought they were had died with socialism.”

Gosh. Men aren’t a “problem”? Then explain to me why they are overwhelming the ones who perpetrate real violence. Explain to me why they are the ones who rape and abuse women and children. Explain to me why they are the ones who humilate and degrade women in pornography. Explain to me why they are the ones who kidnap women and children from their homes and force them into prostitution and pornography.

Men are overwhelming the “problem”. They always have been the cause of the majority of our real social ills.

If the illegality of murder didn’t stop them and the illegality of child prostitutes doesn’t stop them AND the legality of strippers doesn’t stop their abuse, maybe it is time to get past the notion that it is laws that need fixing instead of men.

wayne, please read the link I posted to see why your off the cuff idea of governments being pimps for women is not a good one. It does not work. Police rape prostitutes. UN Peacekeepers rape refugees and give them money or food as if the rape is cleansed by turning it into prostitution.

Men can not be trusted to run brothels, especially men in positions of power like police and politicians. They are not allies of poor women.

“It would only minimize the risk within the brothel itself. The deranged men would still follow the prostitutes to work and from work. break into their home, etc. This is a common problem with strippers”

They can do that with any prostitute but it would reduce the risk.

“Legalizing brothels will only cause the abuse of women and children to skyrocket even more”

I don’t see how if the local council runs them. I think the abuse would decrease especially with children because the police would have more resources to deal with child prostitution and not have their resources spread out like they do now.

If only council run brothels were legal there couldn’t be any abuse because the police would focus on the prostitutes that have are not in those brothels which will basically hound the pimps out of business.

Heather, This story was a page lead in The Times this week, I highlighted the link on a previous post. I’m sure this story will be in tomorrow’s press, the beauty of blogging is that I can publish instantly when the news is “hot”.

The media will always pick and choose what they want to report on, local press will tend to give more widespread coverage while the nationals focus on more sensational stories. I think this one fits that bill. I hope the ECP is successful in seeking its amnesty.

You have to ask why the media isn’t giving significant coverage nationally to the murder of these young women (and disappearance of others). It seems they – and by implication, society – doesn’t view these women’s lives as worth as much as others who capture the headlines and media outrage. So it is no wonder someone feels it is okay to kill them. Every murder victim should be treated equally by the media – regardless of race, gender, or occupation.

“I hope that police and government will one day soon work with these women to legalise brothels rather than waste time and money on prosecuting adults for consensual sex.”

But it isn’t really consensual sex. In most cases it’s sex that women have no other choice but to participate in. Legalizing brothels will only cause the abuse of women and children to skyrocket even more by sending the message to men that their sexually abusive attitudes and behaviour are acceptable. It would also drive the rate of trafficking through the roof. These women need financial help and education from the government and society at large, not yet another stroke of the male ego by the powers that be.

“This is why we should have state run brothels. it would be almost impossible to kill a prostitute and if it did happen we would know who it was.”

It would only minimize the risk within the brothel itself. The deranged men would still follow the prostitutes to work and from work. break into their home, etc. This is a common problem with strippers.

Please take a few minutes to learn the facts of why giving governments a profit motive to ignore the sexual abuse of women doesn’t work before repeating the falsity that it does. Women’s lives depend on it.

Ellee, I totally agree. I understand that the Dutch experience of legalised brothels not only protects the women from violent crime, abuse and disease but also reduces the incidence of rape too amongst the wider female population too.